Strike: The Hero From the Sky by Charlie Wood

Strike: The Hero From the Sky

Author:  Charlie Wood
Publisher:   Createspace
Release Date: March 28th, 2012

Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Book One of the STRIKE Trilogy

Tobin Lloyd's life is perfect: he's a senior at Bridgton High, he's one of the funniest kids in school, and his only worry is whether or not his latest prank is going to result in yet another detention. 

But when he wakes up in the world of Capricious, a place where superheroes are real and attacks by super-villains are just another hassle of living in the city, all of that changes. Suddenly, Tobin's last year of high school is not going as he expected.

Far from home and pretty sure he's gone insane, Tobin must join a strange group of companions (including a beer-drinking dog and a genius, three-foot-tall robot) as he desperately tries to find a way back to Earth. However, that may be even harder than Tobin knows: a mysterious super-villain named Vincent Harris has big plans for the planet Earth...and Tobin is the only person standing in his way.

A carefree, C-student class clown is the world's last hope? Yikes. 


Full of action and humor, STRIKE: THE HERO FROM THE SKY is the perfect novel for anyone who loves a good adventure.

Strike: The Hero From the Sky was one of those books that felt like it would be amazing for a middle school boy. Not being in middle school, nor a boy, I probably didn't get as much out of this as I could have. Don't get me wrong, I think Charile Wood is a great writer. It was easy to get into the story in the beginning, and I liked the flow of the dialog and text. The mechanics of a good book were there. I probably just wasn't as drawn in by the actual plot. Which is funny, because I'm sort of a nerd and I love super heroes. I think in the end it just felt too young for me? Or too boyish? Too something...

Part of the problem was honestly just that it had a different humor than maybe I prefer in a book. I sort of felt like I was on the outside watching the characters laugh and not really finding it as amusing. Talking dog companion and robot and general slapstick conversations just didn't really "click". There were really no female characters to help get me through some of the important parts of the story, and no one I related to, so that eventually made things putter out for me. I started out really into it. Powers and lightning and suspense, yes! Then all the secondary characters and power discovery took that left turn where I felt like I walked into a boys locker room. Somehow, I just wasn't sure I belonged there. 

I'm not marking this book down because I don't think it's really the authors fault. There is an audience for this and if I had a younger brother I could pass it off to them. It just wasn't a "me" book.